Smithville - Port Republic Joyride

The Jersey-Atlantic Wind Farm is the first coastal wind farm in the United States. It became operational in March 2006. Approximately 50% of the wind-generated capacity from the turbines provides about 60% of our wastewater plant's electricity needs. The remaining energy is provided to the main power grid for resale as premium renewable electricity.  

Each wind turbine reaches a height of 380 feet. 

On our way to Smithville we pass the restored home of Dr. Jonathan Pitney, "The Father of Atlantic City". The home was built in 1799, added to in 1848 and beautifully restored in 2015. Today, this house is a bed and breakfast inn.

James Baremore built what is now the Smithville Inn in 1787, as a a single room along a well-traveled stagecoach route. However, historians debate whether it was originally planned as an inn. The area of Smithville was considered part of Leeds Point when the inn was built.

Learn more about Smithville.

The Jersey Devil was born in Leeds Point, e according to one legend about the cryptid. The legend claims that in 1735, the thirteenth child of a woman called Mrs. Leeds from the community was transformed into a demon shortly after birth due to her cursing that it would be the devil. The home where the Jersey Devil was born is lived in today. See the infamous chimney from which he escaped. 

Learn more about The Jersey Devil!

The Powhatan grave site in Smithville contains the burial site of 54 German immigrants who died in the wreck of the packet ship Powhatan in April 1854. Smithville is fairly close to the ocean, but not so much that you'd think a ship was wrecked there, so why were the victims buried in this cemetery? Find out on this tour!

The two-story frame Victorian store was built in 1884 for William Blake, a farmer from Chestnut Neck, and his daughter Amanda Blake, after whom the store is named. She became a milliner and operated the store. She was also the postmistress, from 1918 to 1940, for the post office located in the store. In the evenings, the store was used as a social gathering place, and a meeting place for the Independent Order of Mechanics. 

The cemetery contains five headstones, four of which mark the graves of African American Civil War veterans who enlisted in the Union Army following the declaration of the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln. The headstones identify three Boling family members.

If the panorama of water, sky and marsh in “downtown’’ Leeds Point is not the most serene spot in New Jersey, it sure comes close. The Oyster Creek Inn is a well-hidden gem, tucked away in the Pine Barrens of NJ near the home of The Jersey Devil. The restaurant sits on the Brigantine Bay with a clear view of the Atlantic City skyline.